Pollution

How Safe Is Our Drinking Water?

Safe and readily available water is important for public health. Water are used for drinking, domestic use, food production or recreational purposes. Improved water supply and sanitation, and better management of water resources, can boost countries’ economic growth and can contribute greatly to poverty reduction.

In 2010, the UN General Assembly explicitly recognised the human right to water and sanitation. Everyone has the right to sufficient, continuous, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use.

Water pollution is a serious problem in Malaysia and impacts negatively on the sustainability of water resources. It reduces total water availability considerably as the cost of treating polluted waters is too high and in some instances, polluted waters are not treatable for consumption.

Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio. Absent, inadequate, or inappropriately managed water and sanitation services expose individuals to preventable health risks.